With a new album on the horizon, the love-hate relationship between Billy Talent and myself continues. On the one hand they seemed so edgy when I was in high school and a small part of the nostalgia of that time remains; no one could freak out on stage like Ben Kowalewicz. On the other hand, what had made them interesting in years passed has not changed or re-developed since, rendering much of the music produced by this band stale to the ear.
The song “Hanging by a Thread”, a track on the band’s new album Dead Silence, said it perfectly; some things never change. Billy Talent created a market for itself long ago; the music has almost become classic and the band has not stopped milking their gimmick-like sounds since.
But as their audience grows older so must the music mature, and Billy Talent’s latest work shows that they know when changes should be made. Dead Silence is largely representative of the band’s earlier work but with a larger focus on the complexity of lyrics and the overall structure of songs. In short, the album is a bit tame compared to their older work but that assessment can be taken two ways. Some fans might like the toned down yet high energy album while other might think that no good Billy Talent song is complete without Kowalewicz’s banshee-like shriek; something that the band decided to do without on this album although the singer doesn’t fail to use his vocals in other ways.
Subtle changes like toning down some of the more hardcore vocals to show what else the band has to offer is a smart move, as is balancing the music with more complex lyrics in tracks like “Lonely Road to Absolution” that have a resemblance to Metallica but still retain the band’s punk-rock roots.
The mix of high tempo and slower, heavier tracks might be a sign that Billy Talent is looking to branch out. Broken up by a rare ballad the line-up is mature for Billy Talent; a band that usually makes its money from Kowalewicz’s screaming fits.
As a rule, when bands change their sound they can either rise to new heights or flop to the stage floor. In this case, if Billy Talent is looking to change its sound to accommodate older fans or perhaps create new ones, they are taking it slow. It’s no wonder; BT has been together for almost 20 years, a staggering run for a modern day band. Recorded in three different studios in Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles, Dead Silence has all of the diversity of the musical cultures of the cities in which it was created.
01. Lonely Road To Absolution (1:15)
02. Viking Death March (4:04)
03. Surprise Surprise (3:08)
04. Runnin’ Across The Tracks (4:19)
05. Love Was Still Around (3:46)
06. Stand Up And Run (3:20)
07. Crooked Minds (5:04)
08. Man Alive! (3:36)
09. Cure For The Enemy (3:53)
10. Don’t Count On The Wicked (4:26)
11. Hanging By A Threat (4:08)
12. Show Me The Way (3:06)
13. Swallowed Up By The Ocean (5:02)
14. Dead Silence (4:48)